growing in the goo

Saturday, December 01, 2007

hey girlie, want a piece of candy?

I've really become much more wary of strangers lately.

A month or so ago I met a guy at a diner. He doesn't really speak English, but he seemed nice, and earnest, so I gave him my number. We went out to dinner (much to the consternation of my parents), and the date was fun, but really, there were no sparks. Whatsoever. So I told him on the date that we were just going to be friends. I didn't want there to be any misunderstanding. He understood.

He asked me if he could call me, and if we could do it again, and I told him that I was going out of town, and that the next week was looking really busy. All true. So when he called that weekend, I ignored the call. He called a couple of times the next week, and after not answering a few more times, I called him when I was almost certain that he wouldn't pick up.

I know it sounds cruel, but all that calling was driving me crazy. It was too much.

I left a message saying that I had been really busy, but if my friends are I were going out for happy hour, I'd be sure to give him a call.

And then the month of calling every couple of days began. I never, ever answered, but he kept calling. All were variations of the same theme: "Hi Megghhaaaan, it's F, please call me. I want to speak to you." Sometimes he'd call twice in a row. After a month of this, my boss suggested that I text him. So I texted him with "Please stop calling me. You are making me uncomfortable."

The text was a gamble, since I didn't know if he knew how to open them, etc, but it seemed to work, because he stopped calling. Then he called again on Thanksgiving. I didn't pick up, of course. And then, minutes later, he texted me, saying "Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you enjoy the day!"

I'm so glad that he doesn't know where I live. It's just so bizarre and his behavior shows a complete lack of respect for boundaries. And this isn't the first time that this type of crap has happened. It really makes you not want to be nice to people, and definitely, definitely not to take a chance with giving someone your number.

So last night when I was alone and waiting for the train, a guy started talking to me. He was from Nairobi and new to D.C. He had "stage 5 clinger" written all over him. I chatted for a bit, but very warily. When I got on the train, he sat next to me. Fabulous. I was already working out escape plans in my head. I believe it went something along the lines of "Run to the taxi stand."

He told me where he lived (I didn't tell him my stop), so that was a relief. I got up at my stop, and he stayed in his seat, and we shook hands. He didn't ask for my number, but if he had, I would not given it to him.